autonomous cars: it is now for Volvo and Uber – ZDNet France

Uber has never hidden his intention to get rid of the drivers of VTC: Once autonomous driving technology is developed, the company massively adopt the use of automatic vehicles. It is therefore no surprise that one learns that the city of Pittsburgh in the United States was chosen by the company to deploy a fleet of autonomous VTC Volvo by the end of August. Trials are already made in this city.
 

Volvo car used in Pittsburgh by Uber. (Source: Uber)

“We go into commercial mode. All this can not remain a matter of science, “says the founder and CEO of Uber Travis Kalanick Bloomberg. It ensures that 100 cars should be readily available through a partnership with the Swedish manufacturer. The people of Pittsburgh should receive free service for now, provided to support the guinea pig status: two employees of Uber will be on board to bring to reason the autonomous vehicle if problems

The agreement between Volvo and Uber revolves around an investment of $ 300 million (€ 264 million) to make autonomous vehicles. This is, however, not the first initiative of Uber in this area. A laboratory of the company is working with Carnegie Mellon University on the subject.

Travis Kalanick also mentions the eventual presence of a million autonomous vehicles in California, a strategy to encourage drivers to abandon their vehicles due to the drastic drop in costs of use of VTC.

Uber wants to go fast in a sector where competition sharpens day by day. The company has just redeem Otto, a startup specializing in cargo and autonomous trucks. General Motors has teamed with Lyft, Uber competitor in the United States, to launch him as a network of driverless taxis. Ford says go in the same direction as Google. The company golds already accumulated more than 2.5 million kilometers of testing.

Uber justice against its drivers

At the same time , Uber is entangled in a legal case that could cost him dear (although the company has raised a total of $ 8 billion). The company was willing to give $ 100 million to end a dispute between 385,000 drivers paid by the company, but that it is not recognized employee status. A judge in San Francisco has rejected this proposal, unfair judging reports Reuters.

“The court concludes that the agreement as a whole is not fair, adequate and reasonable, and therefore refuses motion (…) to a preliminary agreement, “mentions in its decision the judge Edward Chen. “The agreement, mutually approved by both parties, was fair and reasonable. We are disappointed by this decision and we look at our options,” said a spokesman for Uber.

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